Battle of Wattignies

The Battle of Wattignies (15-16 October 1793) was a major battle of the Flanders campaign of the French Revolutionary Wars that was fought between the armies of France and the Coalition army of the Holy Roman Empire and the United Provinces. Jean-Baptiste Jourdan's French army sought to lift the siege of Maubeuge, whose garrison of 25,000 troops was besieged by the Count of Clerfayt's 26,000-strong Austrian army. On the first day of the battle, a clumsy French assault was repelled, but the second day saw Jourdan concentrate half of his army at Wattignies and foorce Coburg to concede defeat after a hard fight. The thinly-spread and disunited Coalition forces were defeated, going into winter quarters after a promising campaign that ended in disappointment. Lazare Carnot, the political representative in the French army, rewrote history so that he got much of the credit, and Jourdan was dismissed in January 1794, despite having won a great victory.